New Delhi, 17 July: An all-party meeting was organized by the Central Government on Sunday before the upcoming Parliamentary Monsoon session.
However, a meeting held under the chairmanship of the Defense Minister Rajnath Singh at Parliament House Annexe on Sunday, issue of inflation, unparliamentary words and withdrawal of Agnipath scheme were raised by the Opposition.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi told reporters after the all-party meeting that the Opposition is trying to tarnish the image of Parliament. He said that the government is ready to discuss all the issues with the permission of the chair under the rules and procedures.
Joshi said that for the meeting, invitations were sent to 45 political parties, out of these 36 were represented. The leaders of all these parties presented their views, suggestions and kept their demands from the government on some issues. The government is ready for discussion in Parliament on all issues, he added.
Joshi said that the issue of ‘unparliamentary terminology’ was also raised in the all-party meeting.
He said that the Speaker of the Lok Sabha has already given a clarification on this, and this point was reiterated by the government as well. Since 1954 till now, a list of words declared ‘unparliamentary language’ has been issued in the Parliament, this time also the released list was part of the same sequence, he added. This does not mean that the use of any word is prohibited in Parliament, said Joshi.
Joshi informed that the government has called another all-party meeting under the leadership of External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The current crisis in Sri Lanka will be discussed in this meeting to be held on July 19.
Joshi, on Prime Minister not attending the all-party meeting, said that it is not part of the tradition, even during the Congress governments before 2014, the Prime Minister never attended an all-party meeting.
Earlier, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had tweeted at the beginning of the all-party meeting and said that the Prime Minister did not attend the meeting even today. ?Isn’t it ‘unparliamentary’??
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and Congress MP Mallikarjun Kharge said that 13 issues were raised in the all-party meeting. He said that the government wants to bring 32 bills in Parliament during this session. The government also does not want to share information about 14 bills. There are only 14 working days during this session. There are many issues to be discussed and 32 Bills are to be passed.
The Opposition wants to discuss topics like China’s infiltration, foreign policy, changes in the Forest Protection Act, attacks on Congress leaders including Jammu and Kashmir and Kashmiri Pandits.
